Page 39 of Betrothed To Love

At her response, I smile, then hit her. She answers before I even hear the phone ring. “Hello.”

“Hey, my beautiful wife,” I respond.

“Well, hey. Let me redo my greeting,” she says, then clears her throat. “Ahem… Hello, husband,” she says.

“I like that better.”

“Practice makes perfect,” she says. “What’s going on?”

“I was thinking about you and hoping you were still awake,” I admit.

“I am. I’m looking at the list Duke sent. Your mom confirmed seventeen for your family, five for your firm, my nine, plus me, you, and Niya is thirty-four, leaving eleven for constituents. His list has twenty-five.”

“You need me to cut some of my family?”

“Oh no,” she rushes out. “Hell no. I’d rather have them there than these politicians,” she says then laughs. “I’m just trying to see who’s more valuable to have there. Plus, Duke told me you paid for everything. You really didn’t have to do that. This is for my election.”

“And to celebrate us. Of course, I was going to pay. Besides, us Bakos run deep and have healthy ass appetites. My nephews alone are going to eat up the food,” I say and she laughs again.

After her campaign manager reached out to Shuga, she called me. Mireya told me earlier today that she was able to secure the winery and asked if she could give Duke my contact info. I agreed but even if I hadn’t, Shuga gave him my info too. He called me with the details and I covered the booking.

“Shuga said the same thing about your nephews,” she says.

“You and my momma talking so much is a trip,” I admit.

Shuga never talked with Janis when we dated and she definitely doesn’t talk to Sade this much and Sade and Ace have been together for almost twenty years. There’s love between the two but she doesn’t call Sade like this. Hell, I don’t think they even exchanged numbers until years into Sade’s relationship with Ace.

“I like it though. I think we connected over our love for art at first but she’s cool. She can call me as much as she wants.”

“Please don’t tell her that,” I tease, but only partially. Shuga has no boundaries. The moment she thinks of something, she calls. My busy practice and trials don’t mean shit to her.

“How did it go with Niya? You two talked, right?” she asks pensively.

“I kept it real surface level for her, giving her enough for her little mind to digest. Too much will only confuse her and have her asking a million questions. I basically got her approval though, so we can stay married ’cause a no for her would have killed all of this,” I say, teasing a little.

“As it should be,” Mireya says and I smile.

“She’s my heartbeat and she gave you the ultimate approval. I told her that you are my new friend who I really like and who’s going to be around a lot. When I told her that you would be coming to the house, she said you can draw on her wall. That’s a top privilege she doesn’t just grant to anybody.”

“Draw on her wall?” she asks.

“Yeah. She’s an artist like Shuga, so she has a dedicated dry erase wall in her room she can draw on.”

“Oh my God! I absolutely love that!” she gushes. “That’s so cool as a daddy.”

“I’m just protecting my walls. Without it, she would have little scribbles and shit all over the place.”

“That’s cute though,” she says. “I can’t wait to draw with her.”

“You draw?”

“Not at all but I’d gladly scribble and do some stick figures.”

“You should come this weekend,” I throw out. Our conversation is flowing and she seems real open to being here, so why not?

“We do need to spend time together before the dinner. We can’t look and act like strangers. I can come over if you’re sure.”

“Real shit, you can come tonight,” I say.